Israeli arms exports hit $14.795 billion in 2024. Four consecutive record years. Twelve percent went to countries that publicly say they have no military ties with Israel.

Per the Israeli Defense Ministry, 2024 was the fourth straight year Israeli defense exports broke a record. The figure nearly doubled in five years from roughly $7.5 billion. Per SIPRI, Israel was the world’s seventh-largest arms supplier in 2021-2025, with exports up 56%.

Per the Defense Ministry, Abraham Accords countries took 12% of those exports, up from 4% in 2023. The UAE, Bahrain and Morocco publicly maintain ties with Israel are limited to the 2020 accords, with no secret arrangements.

On May 13, the Israeli PMO posted on X that during Operation Roaring Lion, PM Benjamin Netanyahu secretly visited the UAE and met President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, producing a “historic breakthrough.”

The UAE Foreign Ministry replied within hours, per WAM state news agency, that relations with Israel are “public and conducted within the framework of the well-known and officially declared Abraham Accords, and are not based on non-transparent or unofficial arrangements.” Claims of unannounced visits were “entirely unfounded.”

Per the Jerusalem Post, Mossad director David Barnea and Shin Bet chief David Zini also visited the UAE during the operation. Per The Wall Street Journal, Barnea visited at least twice.

Per US Ambassador Mike Huckabee on May 12, Israel deployed Iron Dome batteries and IDF personnel to the UAE during the war. This was the first combat use of Iron Dome outside Israeli or US territory.

Per the Defense Ministry on May 14, Israel is paying Elbit Systems roughly $34 million to integrate external fuel tanks on the F-35I Adir. No other F-35 operator has done this.

Prime Minister Netanyahu now publicly describes Israel as a “regional and global superpower.”

The data backs the claim. $14.795 billion in arms exports. Seventh largest global supplier. 56% growth. 48% of exports are missiles, rockets and air defense. Iron Dome on foreign soil. The first F-35 operator anywhere to break the internal-fuel-only doctrine.

The Abraham Accords are no longer a peace agreement. They are a combat-tested security architecture. Iron Dome batteries on Emirati soil. Two Israeli intel chiefs shuttling to Abu Dhabi during active war. Per Israel Hayom, Israel and the UAE coordinated military strikes inside Iran, including the UAE Mirage strike on the Lavan Island refinery.

The architecture is operational. The architecture cannot be publicly acknowledged.

The denial collapsed within hours. Per the Jerusalem Post, former PMO spokesperson Ziv Agmon publicly stated he was in the meetings and that bin Zayed “personally drove the PM in his personal car from the plane to the palace.” An Emirati source told Israel Hayom: “Bibi came here because he wanted to show that he does not leave his allies alone.”

Iran FM Abbas Araghchi posted that Netanyahu “publicly revealed what Iran’s security services long ago conveyed to our leadership.” He called the coordination “unforgivable.”

Israel did not become a global defense superpower by accident. It became one through fourteen months of combat against Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, Iran and Iranian proxies. The combat record is the sales pitch. The Gulf is buying.

The summit in Beijing today must decide what China does when its largest oil supplier is on the losing side of a combat-tested defense architecture it cannot publicly acknowledge.